Vee Bee Photography

This blog shows a basic, laid-back approach to my photographic journey whilst completing the final year of the BA (Hons) Photography degree at Portsmouth University. It includes other reviews of certain parts of my life to keep it honest and relatable to me as a person. I wanted to make sure my personality and other aspects of my life were included so people could understand my work as well as my life. As well as this it is a constant update for those interested in my photographic work and how I complete projects. The course has helped me to decide which area of photography I like the most, which is documentary. However, I also enjoy doing portraits, but mainly for people I know well. This is because I know their personality, the style of photographs they want and where to take the photographs. It is a lot harder to do a portrait photo shoot of someone you have never met, as one person’s preference for what they want the final outcome of the photograph to look like can be the opposite of someone else. Saying that, a challenge is refreshing every now and again!

Whilst looking at job opportunities in a photographic genre is has become very apparent how few and far between they are, unless you are freelance or want to work in London. As a girl from a small town, working in London has never appealed to me. This has led me to look into other pathways that still have an element of photography in them, such as media or product research for companies. I have been looking at a certain area of work, which is the cosmetic industry. Examples of a job role include customer relation manager, which deals with how the public sees the company, where they see it and how it can be improved, this job role was recently advertised at Estee Lauder, however my experience did not match the requirements for the job. I have also looked into other companies such as B&Q, South Electric and Matchtech that have similar roles to this or roles that I am interested in. Some roles include marketing, which is a creative role so it is still something that is linked to photography. I have already started applying for these jobs. Although it was late on in the course, I feel the Viva practice was very helpful and I think the Viva will be helpful too. It helps to improve your confidence about what you do and show how much of a passion you have for it.

            Another area I have been looking into is forensic photography, after ample research it has become clear that this role requires a lot of life experience as well as a qualification with a scientific background. The police are also cutting back at the moment and currently only recruiting internally. This is a career that I am greatly interested in; it is what my portfolio is based around. The shots are clinical and clear, although not of the forensic genre, they show restricted areas, which proves I can gain access to places as well as keep a professional manner when photographing. 

            I currently have work experience set up with two photographers. One is a local photographer from Locks Heath; I am helping on some commissions such as weddings and portrait sessions in the near future. The other one is an established photographer in the United States, who works for a famous cosmetic company, I will be shadowing him later in the year. I will gain a great insight into the photographic world whilst doing this; they are both great opportunities that I will learn a lot from.

            Social networking is a very important aspect of anyone’s career in the current economic climate. It is the quickest and most efficient way of getting your name out there and getting noticed. Through the use of certain professional websites such as ‘LinkedIn’, which is a professional version of ‘Facebook’. It is a good way to search for appropriate jobs as well as promote myself to future employees. I use the service to ‘follow’ companies I am interested in to ensure I do not miss out on any future opportunities.

            My portfolio includes three projects; “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”, which is a project that I did at Havant Police Station. This series includes eight selections from the project. All these photographs were taken on a Mamiya RB67 on colour 120 films. The next project included was shot at Gosport BMX Track; it was a series about different sports grounds around the local area and how the textures in these areas can create very interesting photographs. The project is untitled and is a series of three photographs. The final project, “The Chamber”, is the most recent. All photographs were taken at Gosport Fire Station. They were all taken on a Canon 5D Mark ||. When exhibited it is a series of four photographs, however I have included six in the portfolio. Other images in the portfolio include places I have travelled to such as Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, California and views of Central Park from the GM Building in New York. I wanted to put these in as personal projects as these are photographs I really thought about whilst visiting these places, not typical tourist shots.

            After this course is complete, I am going travelling for a month around America, this will help to improve my portfolio as well as teach me some valuable life lessons. It will also give me the break I need after seventeen years of education.

the next post contains an academic piece of writing.

Please be prepared.

Yesterday I had my viva practice (presentation about our research for our last project), it went surprisingly well! I did not think I was a confident public speaker, even if it is just one to one, but I pulled this one out of the bag… I think! My tutor gave me a few suggestions with regard to what to include for my actual viva, which is next week!

I then stayed on to do a little bit of painting, I couldn’t stay long but I put in as much as I could. I have been having physiotherapy in the last few months and the past weeks appointments have caused me a lot of pain, which makes minimal activities very strenuous and demanding. 

Tomorrow involves handing in the last piece of written work, which I will also post on here. We also have to hang our work for the exhibition. I think I am going to use velcro… I really don’t want to as I feel it will ruin the back of the prints (which I am going to give to the fire station when the exhibition is over for them to do with them what they please). But velcro seems like the best bet as my prints are 24x20 and mounted on 5mm foamex.

I can’t keep the prints at my house afterwards as we are moving in the near future and I have nowhere to store them. 

…Well Beyonce, what can I say?

I was mesmerised, that much so that I can’t even remember most of the set list let alone the order of it! She definitely impressed me! What a perfect woman… strong, talented, beautiful… flawless! 

The choreography for the dancers was unquestionably perfect, it was lively, seductive and in time! 

The outfits were pretty cool, my favourite was one that looked a little like a bird or peacock pattern. Beyonce wore a shimmering blue jumpsuit whilst performing Irreplaceable, she looked immaculate. The jumpsuit reflected in the lights and refracted all round the venue. All eyes were on her, and who could blame anyone?

She really is an inspiration to women all around, she has done so much and gives so much back to help woman all over the world to achieve their dreams.

The double act - Les twins, also kept the crowd going with their cheeky ways, their dancing was out of this world, so talented! We actually spotted one of them before they went backstage, missed a photo opportunity there! We didn’t believe it was anyone special as he was acting so casual, being escorted round the o2 with his bright orange bike that was identical in colour to the stewards jacket standing very close to him.

Thanks for an unforgettable evening Queen B!

So this time last week I was supposed to be watching one of my most favourite artists, Pink perform at the LG Arena in Birmingham! I was so excited! Unfortunately, after driving 50 miles of the journey (whilst stopping for a cheeky McDonald’s), we discovered, through email that Pink had postponed the gig due to illness. It was devastating. Although not half as annoying as finding out that the LG Arena had tweeted at half seven in the morning to say it was postponed, yet didn’t email us until 5:30 in the afternoon to inform us of it being postponed. I have to say I think that is terrible, not everyone checks twitter for things like that and not everyone has twitter! This is when social networking has gone too far and old fashioned ways need to be brought back or even an announcement on the news?! I find that it was highly unacceptable that we made a 100 mile round trip before discovering the news and being greatly disappointed. The reschedule date still has not been confirmed.

My prints for the exhibition arrived today, I still need to check them but I am sure they’ll be fine! It all seems so real now!

Finally, a little bit of sun can go a long way! I was sat out in it last week doing some last minute research whilst lapping up as much Vitamin D as physically possible, not realising how strong the rays were. I burnt all of my back and it is still peeling now! Wear sunscreen kids!

Anyway… QUEEN B tonight… so excited for that… please don’t cancel !!!! 

So the big hand in was today, my print from Loxley Colour arrived at 8:50am, I paid £1.20 extra postage (on top of £7.20) for it to arrive on time! It was a close call but I only had to do that as a week previous to that I ordered what was meant to be my final print and it came back distorted, which was frustrating to say the least… I think I had uploaded the photograph onto a portrait layout rather than landscape so the dimensions did not match up! However, the print that arrived this morning was perfect and the quality was unquestionable.

The rest of the exhibitions prints will arrive on Monday!

They are all 24x20 images mounted on foamex! The size of them helps to show the detail, as well as the scale of the building!

All that is left now is the Viva presentation, the exhibition and then graduation… Hello real world… I’m ready for you!

I am going to exhibit the photographs from the fire station, if I have time I might re-work the photo-book from the police station project and add that to the exhibit as it will only be small!

Deadline is getting ever closer, i am so much more organized than I was last year, it has made things so much easier, I don’t think there will be an all nighter like last year again!

So for our final exhibition I’ve decided Im only going to exhibit the police station project, it’s Stronger than the fire station one and I prefer the images.

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing considering the fire station is my FMP …?!

Meant seaside projections